A human being has a lot of sides, like a kind of diversity, so it's like a good side, a bad side, a crazy side, a normal side, like a man-ish side, a woman-ish side.
— Shinsuke Nakamura
I don't get nervous before the match. I try to act the same and stay normal right before entrance. I don't want to do anything special, so I want to act normal before a match.
Before I came to WWE, they sent me samples of all of the entrance music, so I told them, 'I don't use this,' and 'I don't use this,' and, 'Please mix music with violin,' and they would make samples, and I would give my opinion, and this would go back and forth until, finally, they made 'The Rising Sun,' and I was really happy to have that.
Sometimes I dance for concentration. I dance to release my nervousness.
WWE style is a much different platform than other wrestling companies. Each wrestler wrestles under strict rules that fans never know.
Antonio Inoki majored in strong style. He showed real emotion with real technique in the ring. Hard shots that look like hard shots. But the important steps is the real technique from the real martial arts. It means detail is important.
Being around the young people makes me feel younger, like I'm 25 again.
After match, in WWE, I do not drink alcohol. I just drink a lot of water.
I need to study English more. I'll start by watching 'Sesame Street' every day.
Wrestling is an art. Every culture has an art, like music and dancing and fighting. So that's my base. If I think about it like art, I can connect with everybody.
For a long time, almost 14 years, I wrestled in Japan, so I didn't think I would leave New Japan Pro Wrestling, but I started changing my mind. I wanted to see the other world. I wanted to change something. I wanted to be bigger.
WWE, time-wise, is so strict.
Florida's waves are better than Japan. It's just an hour drive to the beach, but just once a week, I'm able to go to the surfing.
Moving to the United States is a huge decision.
I love wrestling, and I love telling a story to the audience.
Being here in the United States, English is not my first language. It's kind of a challenge for me, a big challenge for my family.
I never think about pride. I don't think about stuff like that. I just enjoy the moment of my life. I think about just trying harder and continuing to find challenges to move toward.
One of the purposes of coming to WWE was to wrestle with Daniel Bryan.
I really want to face Roman Reigns again.
Around 2005, UFC offered me a chance to fight for them. But, at that moment, I was under contract with NJPW, and I decided to stay in pro-wrestling. It was a good opportunity, but I don't regret my choice.
Every characteristic of my character and my moves always came from my real life. My character is kind of close to my real personality.
I use every kind of emotion in my wrestling, so that's why people call me the 'King of Strong Style.'
My inspirations were 'Macho Man' Randy Savage and Andre the Giant. It was easy to understand their character.
One of the reasons to come to the WWE was to wrestle at 'WrestleMania,' but to main-event 'WrestleMania?' Wow! I live for this.
With Michael Jackson, when he moved, it looked like a martial artist to me. He was quicker than other dancers, but he didn't have muscles; he was just quicker and looked more in control of gravity. He looked like a martial arts master, so I tried to steal body movement from him; that's why I imitate Michael Jackson a little bit.
I'm not, like, an English speaker, so I have confidence in my wrestling skills, also, like, body language, hand gestures, facial expressions. I put all of my emotion in my wrestling.
I think a wrestler can say something from fighting, from wrestling.
I wanted to enjoy my life and challenge myself.
You have a good side and bad side, real side. Then I put that on in the ring. My character, my personality in the ring, came from heel stuff.
Wrestling is a universal language. The moves, the facial expressions, most people understand.
A lot of people misunderstand what is Strong Style. Hard hits? Stiff? I don't think so. Strong Style is a kind of philosophy.
I like to go surfing because I want to feel the ocean and experience nature, and nature fixes my balance, and this life is crazy sometimes, so it helps a wrestler's life because a wrestler's life is crazy sometimes.
Most fighters are nervous before they go out there. Nervousness makes the body tight. I don't like that. I want to fight with a normal feeling. That's why I move the fingers, shoulders, everything. I try to move like spaghetti.
I felt good in the ring with John Cena.
I want to be on 'SmackDown' because it has AJ Styles, Randy Orton, and John Cena - a lot of dream matches I can do.
I want to be bigger than everybody.
I feel as if I accomplished everything in Japan, so I wanted to challenge myself. I wanted something new, so I decided to come to WWE.
Wrestling has its own culture. Every culture - Japan, Samoan, Indian, Korean - has wrestling, and wrestling is a worldwide mix.
NXT fans are hardcore wrestling fans.
Strong style is a philosophy for Japanese wrestling fans that was created by New Japan Pro Wrestling founder Antonio Inoki. He wanted you to show every motion and show real technique in the ring. It's important to use real techniques from real life and real martial arts. The detail is important.
At 'WrestleMania,' I can show my 100 percent or more.
Language is important, I know, for the TV show, so a lot of people watches 'WWE' everywhere. Asia, Africa... some people don't understand English like me. That's why I use facial expressions and body motions.
There are wrestlers in Japan. I think they think they can move to WWE, but it's not so easy.
When I was a kid, I loved Nintendo.
For me, I like to be different. I didn't want to imitate another wrestler. I always try to find something from other genres, like movies, books, art, and musicals. That's how I made my style.
